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Thread: contemplating discus. can i do it with my current set up?

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    Default contemplating discus. can i do it with my current set up?

    so, as a quick background, i have kept fish since i was in high school, about a decade ago. i started with the 55 gallon tropical community tank which eventually upgraded to a 125 gallon tank with a canister filter and i kept that until i moved to my current house about 5 years ago. while i moved i upgraded to a sump filtration system and decided to keep cichlids. i kept my tank overstocked with mbunas for several years but my tank developed a leak which required tearing the setup down for repair. i had wanted to do some other upgrades like a custom 3d background and now that my tank is coming back together and im thinking of keeping discus. i have done some research and watched the king of diy's "how to keep discus" video, which is what has brought me here.

    i live near farm fields. so my well water naturally has nitrate in it, which i have measured as high as 40+ ppm out of the tap. as a result of this i am forced to use an R/O filter and build my water up from there. i am currently filling my tank with an open pipe from the filter and its been 2 days since i opened the valve. the tank is *almost* half full, not counting the sump. this is my main concern with keeping discus. i am unable to produce the water to make the massive water changes that most people claim with their discus. i can do weekly water changes, as i do with my other tanks, a small anglefish tank and a smaller betta tank. i could probably muster 15 or 20 gallons every week with my current system, more would require some real ingenuity on my part which isnt impossible since im a plumber. my tank is currently bare bottomed, though i would really prefer a thin sand bottom. as for filtration, my sump is custom built from a 30 gallon breeder tank and sits underneath my display tank.it starts with mechanical filtration,then i have a massive amount of space for bio filtration, which i plan to make full use of with porous ceramics media. finally, i have a chamber for polyfill and carbon, to make sure no fine bits make it back to the tank.

    is it possible to keep discus in this manner, or should i pursue other types of fish?

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    Default Re: contemplating discus. can i do it with my current set up?

    What size tank are you setting up?

    You will definitely need to change more than 20 gal per week. I would figure out a way to up the R.O. production and get a storage tank of some sort so you always have plenty of water on hand.

    I’m just getting back into discus myself and am remembering how dirty the tank can get in just 24 hrs. I have a 75 gal tank with 6 sub adult discus. I use water aging barrel that holds 60 gallons. I would say I do 70 -80% water change every other day. Most of the time I just change water everyday. Their waste adds up fast and I don’t like seeing it on the sand bottom.

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    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: contemplating discus. can i do it with my current set up?

    How many gallons per day does your RO unit put out? Since your a plumber I'm sure they make big units that produce a lot of water. Also, there are booster pumps for RO. I have one that I'd be happy to sell cheap. It's been a long time since I used RO but my unite produced 100 gallons per day, and with the booster pump it produced considerably more. I would consider water storage barrels a must if for nothing more tham to bring the stored water up to temp and gas it off.

    The number of WC necessary will depend on the age of the Discus you intend to buy. Adults can do with fewer water changes that young ones. Even with Adults, I wouldn't be comfortable with fewer that 2 large changes with stable water twice weekly. I do WC on my adults every day and suffer from guilt when I miss a day. If you can't manage that, I think that Angels would be your best alternative to Discus.
    Last edited by LizStreithorst; 06-22-2019 at 11:50 AM.
    Mama Bear

  4. #4

    Default Re: contemplating discus. can i do it with my current set up?

    I would suggest you educate yourself as much as possible as to the fish you are going to keep, some people say with discus you have to do massive daily water changes, but in the wild they come from the amazon BASIN and they do not get massive daily water changes I would go on your 125gal with extreme filtration and I would use 3 aquaclear 110 hang ons and monitor my water chemistry, meaning amonium, nitrite, and check your ph at your tank and compare to your water change source to prevent any wild ph swings you seem to be experienced in that you were a reefer, and if you can keep a angel fish you can keep a discus, as they come from the same waters, just educate yourself as much as possible and do what makes sense and I think you'll be fine.

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    Default Re: contemplating discus. can i do it with my current set up?

    my tank is 125 gallon with a 30 gallon sump. total water volume ends up around 125 gallons. my r/o filter is putting out about a gallon per hour or about 24 gallons a day. it should be noted that this filter is also used for drinking and cooking water, so the wife isnt happy for me to just drain it 24/7 which causes me to normally be limited by the logistics of maintaining a happy wife. I used a bit of clout to get the one time chance to fill the tank.

    as for a booster pump, i dont think my r/o unit is rated to handle those kinds of pressures and i could just crank my homes pressure to whatever i want anyway. with some investment i could manage 30 gallons twice a week. 30/125 comes to 24% every 3.5 days.

    the biggest problem is that i know in order to keep myself up to the challenge of maintaining a rigorous schedule like this, im going to have to streamline my system. an auto filling water storage system and a pump to transfer the water into the tank along with an automatic drain.... its something i can definitely do, but will it provide me with tank of happy, healthy discus? i plan to keep my stocking to a minimum. no more than 5 discus and possibly some smaller dither fish, or possibly a small pleco to manicure my future driftwood plans.

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    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: contemplating discus. can i do it with my current set up?

    I suppose that with that much water volume 30 gallons 2 times weekly would work with adult Discus. Why not make it easy on yourself and buy a larger RO unit?
    Mama Bear

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    Default Re: contemplating discus. can i do it with my current set up?

    the more i look at storage tanks, 50 gallons might be accomplished, or at least i could shorten the interval of water changes. 30 gallons would be doable at maybe 2 or 3 days. i would need to add a check valve and an extra pressure tank to feed the wifes drinking water while the fish side of the r/o system fills.. im definetly going to be burning through the r/o additives at this rate,though. i wonder if i can find my r/o additives by the bucket..... also, what additives are other people using with r/o water? i currently have seachems nuetral buffer for my betta and my angelfish along with an american cichlid addative. i have considered kent r/o right for the discus.

    if i use a fill valve from a toilet and a latching switch on a pump with a float switch, coupled with an automatic drain, i could make water changes as simple as dumping additives in the storage tank and pushing a button.. the engineer in me is getting excited again. this will end really good or really bad.

    a few questions, does over filtering your water make up for a slightly lesser water change schedule or is it useless? and do photos for this forum need to be hosted elsewhere or can i upload directly from my browser? ill gladly share some pics if i can figure out how...

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    Administrator and MVP Dec.2015 Second Hand Pat's Avatar
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    Default Re: contemplating discus. can i do it with my current set up?

    Hi Thomas, you can upload pictures to the forum. The one limit is the filesize has to be 2MBs or less. The Insert Image icon is third over from the far right on the Quck Reply box.
    Pat
    Your discus are talking to you....are you listening


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    Default Re: contemplating discus. can i do it with my current set up?

    well my fish tank is finally full. still nowhere near fish ready, however. i have been doing more reading and i have had a few thoughts on the reason discus need such dramatic water change schedules. the more i learn about discus, the more i start to feel like its not the nitrogen compounds of the nitrogen cycle that discus are sensitive to. im starting to think that these fish are sensitive to the bacteria behind the nitrogen cycle and to protect them from these bacteria, anyone who keeps discus is forced to do massive water changes, not to remove the nitrate as with normal tanks, but to instead remove the ammonia before it can encourage any bacterial growth.

    is this a known thing with discus or am i taking shots in the dark here?


    schrodingers image upload. no way to know if it will upload or not, until after i post...
    Attachment 124184

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    Administrator and MVP Dec.2015 Second Hand Pat's Avatar
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    Default Re: contemplating discus. can i do it with my current set up?

    Your discus are talking to you....are you listening


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    Default Re: contemplating discus. can i do it with my current set up?

    I started discus a short time ago in a bit larger tank than yours. I also have terrible water and use RO for all my water. I purchased a 400gpd RO system for just this purpose. I use a 44g brute can as a storage container. This gets filled everyday, while I am at work (I have a float valve that shuts the water off once the can is fill. Each night, I attach a hose from this can to the tank and plug the pump into my ATO. I then start a siphon, using 1/4" tubing into another Brute can. As the water slowly drains, my ATO pumps clean water back into the tank.

    This allows me to change ~35g/day without any issues. Without the LARGE RO system, I would be unable to keep Discus. It was a worthy purchase, after all, what is $500 when we are talking a big Discus tank?

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    Default Re: contemplating discus. can i do it with my current set up?

    Quote Originally Posted by LouDogge View Post
    What size tank are you setting up?

    You will definitely need to change more than 20 gal per week. I would figure out a way to up the R.O. production and get a storage tank of some sort so you always have plenty of water on hand.

    I’m just getting back into discus myself and am remembering how dirty the tank can get in just 24 hrs. I have a 75 gal tank with 6 sub adult discus. I use water aging barrel that holds 60 gallons. I would say I do 70 -80% water change every other day. Most of the time I just change water everyday. Their waste adds up fast and I don’t like seeing it on the sand bottom.
    Totally agree with you Jon about the WC People say fancy goldfish are pooping machine I can tell you my discus and my fancy goldfish are both pooping machine. Who is the winner, my discus

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    Default Re: contemplating discus. can i do it with my current set up?

    lyle, what are you adding to you r/o water before pumping it into the tank?

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    Default Re: contemplating discus. can i do it with my current set up?

    Quote Originally Posted by thomas h View Post
    lyle, what are you adding to you r/o water before pumping it into the tank?
    I use Kent Marine RO Right. It is inexpensive and a little goes a long way. I use 1.5-2 tsp for every 30 gallon water change.

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    Default Re: contemplating discus. can i do it with my current set up?

    are you using anything to modify the kH or anything to act as a buffer?

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